First-in-children epicardial mapping of the heart: unravelling arrhythmogenesis in congenital heart disease

Patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) are prone to develop atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Multiple factors throughout life contribute to arrhythmogenicity substrate such as (i) (longstanding) volume and/or pressure overload, (ii) scar tissue, (iii) ageing-related structural remodelling, (iv) cardiovascular risk factors and (v) tachycardia-induced remodelling. At present, it is unknown whether, and to what extent, paediatric patients with CHD have atrial or ventricular conduction disorders early in life and whether there is a correlation between duration of volume/pressure overload and extensiveness of conduction disorders. To investigate this, we initiated high-resolution intraoperative epicardial mapping in paediatric patients with CHD undergoing primary open-heart surgery.